Malcolm Owen
YouTube personality Jonathan Morrison has used "Beautygate" to trick members of his audience to highlight bias against Apple's camera, by receiving compliments on social media for self portraits claimed to have been taken on the Google Pixel 2, but were in fact taken on the iPhone XS Max.
Capitalizing on the current uproar over "Beautygate," a phenomena with the iPhone XS and XS Max's front-facing camera that makes it appear there is aggressive skin smoothing filters applied to a self portrait, Jonathan Morrison took to Twitter and Instagram to share self portraits he claimed were taken on a different smartphone: the Google Pixel 2.
One more Pixel 2 Selfie - thoughts on indoor shot with different lighting? pic.twitter.com/z1z1jAtCRE
— Jonathan Morrison (@tldtoday) October 6, 2018
The two images depicted Morrison in a vehicle and in a studio, with different lighting effects for each. While the Pixel 2 is identified as the smartphone that "took" the shots, there is no mention of Beautygate, iPhone, or other hardware by Morrison in any accompanying text, presumably to avoid directly asking followers to participate in a debate.
Taken on Pixel 2 - rocking the smalls hat thoughts? pic.twitter.com/v3zdmZUQY7
— Jonathan Morrison (@tldtoday) October 5, 2018
The comments shortly after the images were published were largely complimentary towards the Pixel 2, with some users praising Google's smartphone for its quality, and others adding it looked better than the iPhone XS Max. Others mentioned the lack of a "make-up effect," that it could easily be mistaken for a DSLR, it has the "best portrait mode yet," and the joke hashtag #nobeautygate.
In a video published on Sunday, Morrison revealed the deception, confirming the images were actually taken on an iPhone XS Max.
"So I just wanted there to be a lesson out there, don't let a preconceived notion or headline skew your judgement, because clearly everyone who thought that was a Pixel automatically assumed that it was much better than the iPhone," comments Morrison, continuing "when in fact that was the same iPhone XS Max that apparently had all of the Beautygate problems."
Morrison goes on to recap existing analysis of the iPhone XS Max's front-facing camera, where it is performing a high level of noise reduction to the image, so high that it affects the appearance of a subject's skin, rather than the application of a specific make-up filter. The effect is also more pronounced in odd lighting situations, as the camera app could increase the ISO, which in turn increases noise, requiring more noise reduction.
It is possible that Apple will be making changes to how the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max's cameras perform filtering on images in a future software update, with AppleInsider sources confirming such activity is underway. For the moment, users should make sure there is adequate lighting before taking a selfie, if they want to minimize the effect.
AppleInsider Staff
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
20 Comments
Those shots would only trick someone who doesn't know what Pixel 2 selfies look like. The new iPhone selfies are noticeably smoother/translucent and warmer than Pixel 2 selfies, which are high-resolution but flatter/harsher than iPhone (I have a Pixel 2). The selfies above are obviously not Pixel 2 shots.
Perfect example of bias confirmation. You see what you want to see, not what’s actually there. And I’d bet my next pension check that the same people complimenting those pictures were also commenting on how horrible the pictures were on iPhone X Max review videos. Never fear though, it’s the same as the shoe on the other foot with iPhone fans claiming superiority of their pictures over the Pixel 2 or Galaxy. When I was in high school in the 60’s it was the gear-heads taunting each other over displacement, carburetors, differentials, horse power, clutches, tires, super chargers, well you name it. The difference today is that these types can spread their bullshit all over the universe with a single click.
The Max photos are outstanding. For me, this is much ado about nothing.
While many in the tech media are all over this beautygate thing, millions upon millions of ordinary people flock to their local Apple stores and are buying the XS and max, in droves.
I think we can let the dozens upon dozens of Youtubers and tech Illuminati at CNet/Verge etc. have their fun until they forget this gate and move on to the next gate.
IMO these #gates have been so overused that they’re loosing their lustre.